Monday, April 7, 2014

Heard of ~ Cynophobia !
Dogs - one of the most adored pets – the domestic
dog in all likelihood is the first of
the animals to be domesticated and used as companion in hunting in earlier
days. Dogs are considered man’s best ally and among the most sought after pets
~ to some they bring endless joy and fun. For many, they are too scary…. One
shudders to think of walking alone in by-lanes especially in the night time,
when suddenly a stray dog starts barking, making a few more join and perhaps
giving a chase…..too scary… perhaps there are two types that scare …….. one is
the street (stray) mongrels.. then the so called ‘pets’ …. at beach and other
public places, people would let loose the big dogs ….to those frightened
passer-bys – they would say, their dog is well trained and would do no harm ! –
would one fearlessly believe them … menacing to say the least.

Often one hears of dogs pouncing and biting
people. More so, of dog owners letting
loose their mongrels and not caring when it attacks lesser mortals. There are some who cruelly enjoy the fear of
the poor. There used to be stories of
postman, sales girls and others who would take to their heels after unwittingly
entering a posh premises without knowledge of a dog.

Whilst dog bite is common, the law relating to it is
not. In India we do not have a specialized
law relating to dog bite but would perhaps could still pursue under torts and
common law. In US most States have
statute imposing liability on dog owner for all dog bites, irrespective of whether
the dog was a good dog or not. The
victim gets compensation from the dog owners homeowners or renters
insurance. In some places, the liability
would ensue only when the owner could be accused of negligence, intentional or
violative of a leash law or other animal control law.

In UK
there is ‘dangerous dog’ …. Conceptually, not the ones that will bite always,
but those which present great risk of serious injury – not going by what it has
done, but by what others of its class had done. Dog attacks are attacks on
humans by feral or domestic dogs. In UK,
reportedly, injuries from very minor to significant (severe to fatal) arising
out of dog attacks – are common, with
fifty percent of the payout of home insurance due to attacks committed by homeowners'
dogs. Over there they consider,
dangerous dogs as a major problem. By
some accounts, dog bites are a major child-health problem exceeding the total
combined number of cases of measles, whooping cough and mumps in the UK each year. Some
of them require plastic surgery.

The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, is an Act of the
Parliament of the United
Kingdom that was introduced in response to
various incidents of serious injury or death resulting from attacks by
aggressive and uncontrolled dogs, particularly on children. Under the Act (amended in 1997) it is illegal
to own any Specially Controlled Dogs without specific exemption from a court.
The dogs have to be muzzled and kept on a lead in public, they must be
registered and insured, neutered, tattooed and receive microchip implants. The
Act also bans the breeding, sale and exchange of these dogs, even if they are
on the Index of Exempted Dogs. The four types identified by the Act are : Pit
Bull Terrier; Japanese Tosa; Dogo Argentino and Fila Brasileiro. The Act
applies in England, Wales and Scotland,
with a similar act in Ireland.

Japanese Tosa : Picture credit : chelseadogs.com

Understand that in some other country, a
“dangerous” dog is one who : has killed or seriously injured a person; has
killed or seriously injured a domestic animal, while in a public space or while
on private property, other than property owned or occupied by the person
responsible for the dog, or an animal
control officer has reasonable grounds to believe is likely to kill or
seriously injure a person.

Read that in case a pet dog escaping the tenement and
getting into a scuffle with another dog and injures it – when there is no other
witness and the affected dog’s owner pursues the case, animal control
authorities could come to the scene, impound the dog and put on a destruction
order. During the period it is
impounded, the dog would be on solitary confinement with no human intervention
whatsoever and could develop health complications. There the owner would get
friends, neighbours and other dog owners to attest on the friendly (!)
character of the offending dog and have it released – sometimes, still the
destruction order could have the dog eliminated… and people comment that one of
the problems with the “dangerous dog”
laws in British Columbia is that the process – from impoundment to trial - is
unreasonably long and does not provide the “defendant” dog owners with a fair
chance to save their dog. ~ and it is suggested that even when an incident is
reported at private place, one does have the right to refuse Animal control
from coming in.

So much so for those intimidating dogs ……….. I am no great
fan of dogs ~ do not suffer from ‘cynophobia’ though… Cynophobia
is the abnormal fear of dogs. It is
classified as a specific phobia, under the subtype "animal phobias”.
Whether you have mortal fear or not, it makes sense to stay away from an angry
dog….